Dead Can Dance regroups for new album, tour

The tour starts rolling in North America Aug. 9 at the Orpheum in Vancouver, British Columbia and covers fifteen cities in all, including two nights at the Beacon Theater in New York City (Aug. 29-30), before winding down with a Sep. 7 taping of Austin City Limits at the Moody Theater in the Texas capital.

The European leg of the tour picks up Sept. 19 in Istanbul, Turkey and features an Oct. 26 performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London before wrapping in Dublin, Ireland two days later. These will be the first live shows since Dead Can Dance's sold-out tour in 2005.

"Myself and Lisa are genuinely excited to be working together again in the studio," said Brendan Perry, who together with Lisa Gerrard comprise the eclectic duo that originated in Australia in 1981, in a press release. "Writing began for the new album in the autumn of 2011 and the final recording sessions will take place at Quivvy Studios in Ireland in the early part of this year. It will be a spring album to coincide with both nature's reawakening and the group's subsequent rebirth."

About the impending tour, Perry said, "�we have assembled a fine group of performers for the live concerts who have kindly put their own careers on hold in order to perform the music from our new album as well as some new arrangements from the archives."

Dead Can Dance have a unique sound that draws on neo-classical and ancient traditions, weaving together influences from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and beyond, while still managing to appeal to alternative rock audiences. Their 1996 release, "Spiritchaser," reached No. 1 on Billboard Magazine's Top World Music Albums chart.